External content links
What it checks
Reports distinct HTTP(S) links in visible content on every page type. Site-level navigation, header and footer regions, asides and their equivalent ARIA landmark subtrees do not contribute. Internal links and subdomains of the scan domain do not count. Fragments are removed for deduplication. One observed link is enough for an informative pass; no observed links returns NA because no citation obligation has been established.
Why it matters
These observations can help a human inspect supporting material. They do not establish a site-wide obligation or predict AI citation quality.
Evidence
Grade C for the implemented detector. The GEO paper studied adding relevant statistics and credible citations in a fixed experimental context (verified 2026-10-21). It did not validate arbitrary link or number counts as a site-quality measure. The old grade B described the study intervention; the current detector does not reproduce that intervention. The previous numeric threshold therefore cannot govern scoring.
Limits
Links can be commercial, unrelated or inaccurate. The check does not validate source authority, factual support or the destination. It uses the scan domain and its subdomains rather than a complete public-suffix/site-ownership model. It makes no network requests.
How it scores
This check carries weight 0 and informative display. Pass means an observation exists, not that the site meets a proven quality threshold. No observation returns not applicable. It emits no fail or warning for absent sources or statistics.
Sources
- GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Aggarwal, Murahari, Rajpurohit, Kalyan, Narasimhan, Deshpande) — arXiv (Princeton University, IIT Delhi, Georgia Tech, Allen Institute for AI), study (verified 2026-08-21)
- GEO: Generative Engine Optimization — arXiv (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024), study (verified 2026-08-21)
- Optimizing Visibility in Generative Engines: A Critical Survey of Generative Engine Optimization (2023–2026) — arXiv, study (verified 2026-08-21)
- Creating Helpful, Reliable, People-First Content — Google Search Central, vendor-doc (verified 2026-08-21)
- AI features and your website — Google Search Central, vendor-doc (verified 2026-08-21)